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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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April 15th,
2009 - Israel will not Cooperate with UN Gaza Inquiry |
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Israel will
not Cooperate with UN Gaza Inquiry By Joseph Nasr Reuters April 15, 2009 Jerusalem, April 15 - Israel
does not plan to cooperate with a U.N. agency's investigation into alleged
war crimes by Israeli troops and Hamas militants during fighting in Gaza, an
Israeli government official said on Wednesday. Israeli forces launched a
22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in late December with the
stated goal of stopping cross-border rockets fired by Palestinian militants. According to a Palestinian
rights group, 1,417 Palestinians, including 926 civilians, were killed in the
fighting. Israel disputes those figures. The United Nations Human
Rights Council appointed former U.N. war crimes prosector Richard Goldstone
this month to head the investigation into allegations of human rights
violations by both sides during the Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 conflict. The Israeli government
official said a letter was sent to Goldstone, a South African judge, through
the Israeli embassy in Geneva informing him and the council that Israel
believed it was "impossible to cooperate with the committee" in its
inquiry. The official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said a resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on Jan. 12 condemning Israel's military offensive and calling for its
cessation was not supported by most democratic countries. Hamas has not voiced
opposition to Goldstone's inquiry but has yet to say whether it will
cooperate. Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the United States and the
European Union to pressure Israel and Hamas to go along with the
investigation. Goldstone's four-member team
is expected to travel to the region in a few weeks and will issue a report to
the U.N. Human Rights Council in July, the investigator said this month. Human rights groups have
criticised Israel's conduct during the Gaza offensive and called for an
investigation into possible war crimes. In addition to looking at
Israel's conduct, Goldstone has said his inquiry would assess possible
Palestinian violations of human rights. Militants fired hundreds of rockets
into southern Israel during the fighting. Editing by Robert Woodward. © Thomson Reuters 2009. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLF401659._CH_.2400 Israel to give
UN’s Gaza probe cold shoulder By Amos Harel and Yoav Stern Haaretz April 15, 2009 Israel does not intend to
cooperate with the United Nations delegation that is to be sent to the region
to examine claims of war crimes carried out in the course of Operation Cast
Lead, government officials told press agencies yesterday. The delegation, headed by
South African judge Richard Goldstone, was appointed by the UN Human Rights
Council last month. Goldstone had served as the
chief prosecutor of the United Nations international criminal tribunals for
the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. He has many Israeli friends
and has relatives living in the country. The delegation, which in
addition to Goldstone has three other members, is supposed to check claims of
war crimes carried out by Israeli forces against civilians in the Gaza Strip
as well as alleged war crimes on the part of Palestinian terror organizations
against residents of southern Israel. Hamas has already announced
that it would cooperate with the delegation, however Israeli officials say
they fears it will be an anti-Israeli body, whose conclusions have already
been drawn. A senior official in the
Foreign Ministry said that Israel will not allow the members of the
delegation to enter the country, as the mandate given to it by the UN
organization was "one-sided" and made no mention of the missile
launches and other Hamas activity preceding and during the Israeli operation.
"This is not principled and sweeping lack of cooperation with the UNHRC,
and when the sun dawns again over that council we'll cooperate," the
official said. The decision means the
committee will only be able to enter the Gaza Strip via Egypt, if the local
authorities allow it through. Banned entry Israel has banned entry to
UN personnel in the past, most recently with UN inspector Richard Falk, when
similar reasons were given for the ban. Despite this, Israel is
cooperating with another UN investigation, that of the numerous occasions
during which the IDF hit organization facilities during the fighting in the
Gaza strip. Most of these were United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
buildings. Former head of strategy in the planning division of the Israel
Defense Forces General Staff, Udi Dekel, had been tasked to communicate
between this investigation and the IDF. The army is expected to
release in the coming days the results of several of its own investigations
of its own conduct in Operation Cast Lead, regarding claims of violating
international law. These investigations include
that of house demolitions during the operation and the use of white phosphorus.
Some of these issues drew sharp and critical reports from human rights and
left-wing organizations over the last two months. The IDF reports are expected
to be released before Israeli Independence day next month. External link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078583.html |